Stage illumination with indirect light.



No. 698,924. Patented Apr. 29, I902.-

M. FORTUNY.

STAGE ILLUMINATION WITH INDIRECT LIGHT.

(Application filed Apr. 19, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 698,924. Patented Apr. 29, I902.

- M. FOBTUNY.

STAGE ILLUMINATION WITH INDIRECT LIGHT.

Application filed Apr. 19 1901.; (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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MARIANO FORTUNY, OF VENICE, ITALY.

STAGE ILLUMINATION WITH INDIRECT LIGHT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,924, dated April 29, 1902. Application filed April 19, 1901. Serial No. 56.629- (No modelJ To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ll/IARIANO FORTUNY, painter, a subject of the King of Spain, residing at Venice, Italy, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Belating to Stage Illumination with Indirect Light, (for which I have obtain ed Letters Patent of the Kingdom of Italy, Reg. Att., Vol. CXXX, No. 170, under application filed on October 22, 1900,) of which the following isv a full and clear specification.

My invention relates to a system of illumination of the stage and scenery in theaters and like places of entertainment.

In existing systems of scenic lighting the blending and diffusion of colors is Very limited, as it depends on the color of the screens forming the envelops of the footlights or other source of light. In making use of electric incandescent lamps with red-glass globes, for example, it is impossible to vary the tint or shade of the color afiorded by these lamps.

In order to obtain a different shade or color eflect in the illumination, it is necessary to employ auxiliary series of lamps having the required shade of glass screens or envelope.

In the use of arc-lamps with multicolored transparent screens, the colors of which are successively interposed in the path of the rays of light from the lamp, it is not possible to obtain an effect in which the colors are uui formly blended.

Dioptric globes the object of distributing the arc light in a manner that can be utilized with better results than according to the systems above mentioned; but the cost of these globes and the difliculty of coloring them in a variable manner have prohibited their use.

The object of my invention is to avoid the above-mentioned difficulties and to provide a system of scenic lighting by reflected light which admits ofthe use of arc-lamps instead of the much more costly electric incandescent lamps and to obtain blending of colors which are impossible with existing systems.

My invention'consists-in a system of stage illumination inwhich the light from a source is diversely colored and movable across the have been employed with path of the rays of light from the source, thereby producing a uniform blending and distribution of the irregularly reflected and colored light.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one form of my invention, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View of a source of light and a reflecting-screen of the type I employ in my invention. Fig. 2 represents a reflecting-screen on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is-a section through a theater-stage fitted with my arrangement of stage illumination. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stage in Fig. 3. 'Fig. 5 is the section of a theater-stage fitted with one of the present modes of stage illumination, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the same stage. f

Referring to the above figures, a is any source of light, preferably white light. I) denotes rays emanating from a and reflecting irregularly on c. g is the parabolic reflector intended to gather the luminous rays and to project them upon the zone 01 z' of the reflecting-screen d e, which .has a surface slightly roughened'and may be made of tin, aluminium, paper, silk, satin, or other suitable material colored and obscured and suitably inclined relatively to the direction of the 111- minous rays coming from the source a to re-; fleet them from its lighted zone 1' 1', completely diffused and colored,onto the stage or scenery required.

f f are rollers upon which the surface winds and unwinds. The two rollers actuated by a rotary movement in the same direction determine the development of the surface, which thus presents to the rays from the source a all its parts successively colored or obscured.

In Figs. 3 and 4:, oc-represents the stage; a, the place for the orchestra; y, the place for the fauteuils; p, the sources of light; q, the surfaces intended to reflect upon the roof and back of the stage the luminous rays emanated from p and which would otherwise be 'dispersed. w is the side working corridor.

' It is evident that the illuminating groups constituted in conformity with the present invention bya luminous source utilized by a reflector upon the moving surface, substituting successively its different parts, could be placed in the same places of the stage where the present luminous sources are usually placed.

Themovement of the surfaces in question can be effected by manual or mechanical power.

It isquite understood that the present arrangement or system, the special object of which is to use arc-lamps, can also in certain cases be extended to incandescent lamps.

Having now particularly described and as certained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is I 1. In astage=illuminating apparatns,a movable refiector-screen having a diversely-colored surface and means for directing rays of MARIANO FORTUNY.

VVitne sses:

G. B. ZANARDO, TRY. O. FERRON. 

